Keeping true to their hertitage of sports titles Midway brings their famous arcade style football series to the Xbox in the form of Blitz 2002. Before going on, I had some problems writng this review because I had gotten spoiled to playing NFL Fever 2002 and it was hard for me to get out of that frame of mind that these games are total different. "One is a sim and the other is arcade."

Description

Technology has finally caught up with "No Refs, No Rules, No Mercy" football. NFL Blitz 20-02 is all-new, from the gridiron up, and it's ready to sack the competition on the Xbox. This year's title has been completely reinvented by the original creators of the NFL Blitz arcade game to take advantage of the powerful next-generation platforms. All of the 3D player models, NFL stadiums, and over-the-top animations have been recreated along with the team-specific plays and intense sound effects.

Screenshots

Friday, December 17, 2004

User Reviews

Overall: well this game is very addictive for the 1st little while but after a bit it tends 2 get boring...season mode ain't anything special...the good part about this game is the multiplayer..especially playin with 3 other friends who have no clue what they're doing

Gameplay: its a really fun game and is very easy to pick up on..its one of those games where u can pick it up..be confused for 2 minutes then be good..theres not many small thigns 2 learn..i really enjoy this game.Graphics: gameplay is fun..i'll always ask for more, better animations..i always wanted 2 c a powerbomb in blitz but never quite got it..Sound: sounds are good...just like in most sports games the commentators get boring and repititve but hey..i play the game for the game not the announcers.Suggestions: keep it up with more animations

Overall: I used to play this game for countless hours back on N64... i was so happy to hear it was coming to the xbox with a whole new look and attitude! It is a great game for the box but not too much has changed. There is amazing new graphics and that is about it... except for the many new tackle animations. Great new look but almost the exact same game.Gameplay: Blitz is super-addictive, and that's primarily due to its wide-open, action-oriented gameplay. It's a blend of real football and all-star wrestling. Playing it feels a little like attending a monster truck rally. It's football on both steroids and speed. It's what would happen if we genetically enhanced football players. The great thing about Blitz is that it lives in a world on the boundary of real sport. It doesn't have to pretend to be the most realistic experience in the world, and that's refreshing. It doesn't have to brag about its AI or talk about its franchise mode. But it does have to be fun. The one thing that really lacks is the running game... you still cannot hand it off and watch ur RB bust through the line! all of them are tosses out to the side and the guy runs.

Graphics: The player models look exceptionally good and set the tempo for the rest of the graphics. Like NFL Fever, a ton of detail went into every inch of every player. Arms have veins and the mesh on the jerseys look almost real. Musclulature is exagerrated but not offensively so. And where the original Blitz sported only a couple different sizes of players, this one has a lot of variation. The stadiums also look amazing which is really a shock for an arcade game. The only real problem is clipping. You cannot tell very well in the normal game but when you go to see your replays you can see hands going right through each other and two helmets becoming one... but hey you can not notice it during normal gameplay so no biggy.Sound: Well there is the new announcing team! We have our usual guy and a new guy accompanying him... i do not remember their names lol. The sound is typcial blitz style... lots of noise in crowds player talking smack and those poor players that get crushed saying their final words :).

Overall: This game is as hilariously good fun as the others. Me and my brother were waiting for years for the next blitz game to come out. Now it has. Its lots more mayhem and lots of laughing.

I would give it a 5, but my brother hacked the game. For those of u people who dont know what Hacking is, its cheating. i was just playing it with him and i was winning in overtime. Then I intercepted his pass, then i fumbled it and he recovered. Next i got the ball back when he scored and i threw a pass. He intercepted it. EVERY TIME I GOT THE BALL HE INTERCEPTED IT. 6 TIMES IN A ROW. it made me mad. very very mad. Cuz id be like "OK OK so uve intercepted my last 3 passes. big deal. not gunna happen again." and sure enuff, it does.Gameplay: If u have a friend or sibling in the house, this game is awesome to play. Its so much fun to play right next to them and make fun of them when u intercept the ball. I had a lot of fun making a character, a penguin. It was hilarious watching that little fat guy waddle down the feild and get smacked down. Creating caracters is a lot of fun. That realy added to the game.Graphics: This game looks awesome. Its hard to tell really with all the action happening so fast. but u can get a close look eventually and it looks awesome for a blitz game. Looks like a NFL Fever on crack.Sound: Good ol' grunting and such. They also have new disses and stuff when u get tackeled. A guy mite come up and say some thing. Nice little addition. The announcers sound nice too. Havnt gotten to repetative yet. looks good so far.Suggestions: keep up the good work. Doesnt appeal to most hardcoor realistic football guys, but it will appeal to anyone who likes demolishing their friends.

Overall: At last Midway brings the Blitz franchise to XBox! Ever since Tecmo stopped making the Tecmo Super Bowl series NFL Blitz has been the only game in town for fast, addictive football. However, repetitive gameplay and lack of expandibility hamper NFL Blitz 20-02's potential. Gameplay: Gameplay was what you would expect from the Blitz franchise with passing and blitzing being the normal mode of operation. Normal ball-control running and safe defensive players need not apply.
Midway's developers hit upon an excellent idea with the impact player concept. Hopefully other football game developers will copy this idea. Alas, passing and blitzing grows old (and being burnt by inferior NFL teams) after 20 hours of play. Graphics: This is the true strength of the game. Instant replays are breathtaking and too few. The only problem in this department is physically impossible catches where the ball magically appears in the reciever's hands out of nowhere. Also, the small number of tackle animations detracts from the game's quality. Otherwise, Midway did and excellent job with this game.Sound: Simply horrible. There's no value added playing this game on a surround sound system. Additionally, after NHL Hitz 20-02 came out with the soundtrack feature why couldn't Midway have put it in this game? Suggestions: With the technology that is available now NFL Blitz should have more features like create a player, additional NFL players from each team to field (imagine knocking the other team's star quarterback out with a crushing sack), and individual team play styles (vertical passing game or crushing running game). The sound must be improved to sell NFL Blitz 20-03.

Overall: Blitz 20-02 is completely revamped. And although it's a lot better, it still lacks greatly in the lasting appeal department. All the animations are smooth and the graphics are sweet, but the fact that the actual play is not as long as choosing a play really makes it a snore fest. Keep in mind I have not played multiplayer yet, but this game doesn't offer much.Gameplay: I was expecting the new Blitz game to be as awesome as NHL Hitz was. Leaning a teeny weeny bit towards the simulation side, tons of new hits, and non-stop action. Instead, I got tons of new hits except you usually do the same 3 and on occasion do a new one, choosing your play takes longer than the actual play itself, and way too fast. This game was fun for the first quarter. After that, I was already hearing the same commentary lines, seeing a new hit 1 out of every 6 times. If I could see those new hits more often, it might've made it more appealing. Also, the cheapness factor is back. I was dominating against the Carolina Panthers in my first game (as would be expected since Carolina sucks). Then they get 3 touchdowns in a row. One of them was complete non-sense. A guy jumped half way across the field and made a one handed catch, juked 5 of my guys and got a touchdown. He wasn't even on fire! Another weird thing is whoever you pass the ball to, the number of their jersey switches to the QB's #. WAS-UP-WIT-DAT???Graphics: Characters are highly detailed. The stadium architechture is also detailed. That's where it stops. There is absolutely nothing on the sidelines. No benches. No coaches. No ref. No water coolers. No photographers. You get the point. Plus the audience isn't even that good looking. The football still looks like an orange blob. The "fire" texture also isn't that impressive. Great job on characters and stadium, awful job everywhere else.Sound: Tackle noises are awesome. So are the grunts from guys getting tackled. But yet again, this is where it stops. The crowd is never into it. They are deathly mute on my surround system. The catch noises, fumble noises, and hurdle noises are just so cartoony. It doesn't blend with the loud rough noise of the hits. Commentary is bad. The color commentator whoever he is blows big time. He absolutely ruins it. The play-by-play guy was awesome in NHL Hitz. I love the commentary by him in that game. But in this game, it looks like the color commentator took up all the room on the disc allowing the play-by-play guy to have nothing good to say. Thus, bad commentary that has some really really really pathetic jokes.Suggestions: Make this game more !&%$@#* appealing. I'm sick of doing the same 4 hit animations over and over. Let me see those other ones more often. You know how you could check through the glass in NHL Hitz? How about we can tackle someone through the water table on the sidelines? Improve the commentary to NHL Hitz quality or better. Maybe this is a multiplayer game, but it offers nothing 1 player wise.

Overall: This game is worthy of the Blitz franchise. I am happy to see that Midway has started over from scratch on this one. You will be enthralled from beginning to end of every game. Of course, like all Blitz games, this one is better with friends than it is in Single-player.Gameplay: Perfect gameplay. I have always enjoyed the Blitz series because of the easy and responsive controls. There are only a few buttons you need to take full control of the game. It is so fast-paced that there doesn't need to be a variety of buttons like in other simulation sports games like NFL Fever. This is just off-the-top fun. The movements are fast and easy to learn, and the tackles in this game are amazing. I love it every time when I see a runner getting flipped and then my guy do an elbow drop onto his hurting body, followed by "What did you say about my momma?"Graphics: I have always respected the Blitz games because of their graphics. This game has excellent graphics and is eye-candy in most parts. However, I would like to see a more detailed football rather than a traditional orange blob, or rather, a giant orange blob in the shape of a football. It would be nice if it was brown and had laces and such. Even though it would be nice to see details in areas like that and also to see a little more reaslistic catches (rather than the ball just appearing in the players hand), you hardly notice anything because of the fast-pace. This game isn't meant for realism, it's meant to be hard-hitting and fun.Sound: AAAAHHHHHHH! OH YEAH!!!! I have always loved the grunts, taunts, announcers, and moans of the players. It's cool when you completely demolish a player and then hear him on the ground in pain while you stand over him laughing or taunting him. Things like this are legendary in the Blitz series. However, this game does not have as many taunts and accouncing phrases as in some of the past games.Suggestions: Make the next one able to play online, I want to test out my skills. Also, it would be nice to have a 16 game tournament or be able to play with up to 8 players by hooking up 2 Xbox's. I would like to see a little more detail in the catching and running, and more variety of tackles, taunts, and announcing. Keep up the good work though! This is by far the best arcade football game ever made.